Farmers are invited to meet up with their local BASF Agronomy Manager and BASF market sector experts to learn more about the key elements of farming – profitability, efficiency and stewardship – at CropTec 2014, to be held on Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th November from 8.00am to 5.30pm at the East of England Showground, Peterborough.

BASF Agronomy Managers from across the UK will be there to welcome farmers to their stand (No. 256), in the heart of the Exhibition Hall. “As a company we are wholly committed and involved in this event, with exhibits on our stand looking at how farmers can tackle lower crop values, how they can protect and maximise margins rather than simply minimising costs, and how they can tackle the key specific issues of controlling difficult weeds in oilseed rape and cereals, managing resistance to cereal diseases and weeds, as well as how to use inputs profitably in a range of crops,” says Rob Gladwin, BASF Head of Business Development and Sustainability in the UK.

He says there are two lunchtime briefing sessions – one on recent cereal fungicide trials results and the second, by Andersons, on the Three Crop Rule. “We are also actively involved in the seminar programme with papers on Profiting from Positive Stewardship by BASF’s Head of Global Sustainability and Product Stewardship, Joachim Leyendecker and another on Managing to resist resistance by Jonathan Blake of ADAS. Growers are currently facing some difficult challenges related to commodity prices, but these will not be overcome by simply cost cutting. Investing in the right products and technology is key to delivering profitability. Optimising crop management is at the heart of it and this is what we will be demonstrating,” says Rob.

Garth Bretherton, BASF’s AgSolutions Manager, will also be on the stand to discuss with farmers how best to interact with them. “To make the right product development decisions, we need to know exactly where farmers’ practical and business pain points lie. We can’t make the best R&D decisions isolated from our market, so we are calling on farmers of all types and sizes of farm to get in touch if they would like to work with us, developing new products, undertaking trials or being the first to try our latest innovations.”

“Our conversations with farmers may well focus on practical issues such as evolving rotations, resistance to chemistry and crop storage as well as matter related to farm profitability, succession and skills. We want to hear and understand it all. So I would be delighted if farmers could come along to the stand and let me know what they are thinking and maybe get involved in a Focus Group or farmer panel.”

To find out more and to meet your local Agronomy Manager, farmers are invited to come to the BASF stand and help the company to continue to support farming, the biggest job on earth.